“If you're insulting people on the internet, you must be ugly on the inside.” ― Phil Lester
A couple of weeks ago, I was left a very pointed, straight-forward, and frankly degrading comment on a photo I posted on Instagram. At first glance, I seriously laughed out loud at the brash attitude of the commenter, who was simply making fun of my clothing, my hair, and my bag. It then went further to make reference to the Childish Gambino song lyric that I had referenced in my caption. And very quickly, my laughter changed. I realized that on my little piece of the internet, on all spaces that exude Endoxist vibes, my messaging has always been clear: "be yourself, do you, live your life unapologetically, and stand proudly in your own truth". And I realized that this type of message - while humours to me at first - could potentially hurt or offend someone else who follows me or reads the blog or visits my profiles. And for that reason, I wrote this post.
And I'm in no position to respond to that person, nor do I have space in my life to be bothered. But I realized something even more important - it is way too easy for anyone (myself included) to take part in cyberbullying and not even realize it. The person who left a demeaning comment meant to harm me, they were cyberbullying. The person who is "exposing" others on their Stories or Snapchat, they are cyberbullying. Anyone using the digital space to publicly shame or bring down anyone else is technically partaking in cyberbullying.
Those sub-tweets and those nasty comments and the "I'm not going to name names but you know who are" is you using your voice and your power to insult or bring someone else down. And while you may think you are empowering or being brave, you have no idea how your words could be affecting the receiver of that message.
Knit: XIAN.ZONE
Bag: LOUIS VUITTON
Coat: ALPHA INDUSTRIES
The point is - we may not realize that our actions online could be hurting someone, could be adding to their horrible day, could be the tipping point for them. This is the reason that I strive always to ensure that everything I put out into the digital (and real) world is positive and uplifting, even if sometimes life isn't like that. This isn't to say you must always pretend and be in a happy mood, but its to say that we should not be talking about people in a derogatory way.
Be mindful of the words you type,
and who they are addressed to.
I just wanted to remind everyone and myself that our words online can have very real world consequences, and I want to challenge us to be more mindful with those comments! This is just one of the ways I cope with cyberbullying - do you have any strategies for the same?
